The Portland daily press., 1887-12-24
MAINE HILLS OF IRON.
The Struggles and Successes OF a
Great Industry.
How Iron Is Made at the Only Fur
mace In New England.
a Business that Will Boom when the
New Railroad Is Done.

a chemists laboratory, Is very soft and very
bright, quite unlike the iron that is so useful
in the multifarious contrivances OF men.
Carbon and silicon, and traces Of few 9TH
er elements must be added to II before IL be-
comes the hard and strong pig iron Of COM
merce. But the iron as II comes from the
sides Of the mountains here at Katahdln Iron
Works is very different from the bright, pure
product Of the labratory, or the hard, strong
product Of the furnace. Mixed with sulphur
and earthly impurities II has the dull red
color that marks Ii as an ore Of low grade.
How the managers Of the Katahdln Iron
Works have learned TO make from this un-
promising material grade Of pig iron as
good az Is manufactured anywhere, and bet
ter than Is made anywhere else on earth
from so poor an ore, Is story Of Maine en-
terprise and perseverance worth repeating
In all New England there Is not another iron
furnace of any kind.
Technically described the ore is limonite.
or hydrated peroxide Of iron-which means
that there Is water In combination with an
iron that contains great amount Of oxygen.
Besides the oxygen and water the ore con-
tains great amount Of sulphur, some silica
or quartz. alumina or clay, and few traces
of lime and magnesia. 1t has been the study
Of years here to remove these impurities,
and combine the purified iron with carbon
in such way as to produce product first
class in every respect.
This has been done, though It has taken
years to do 1t. II was about half century
ago that the ore about here began to be util-
lied. The methods were crude, transporta-
tion to the shipping point at Bangor was
tedious and costly, and the troublesome
sulpher Of the ore made the product so
spongy and brittle that II took very low
place in the market. After some years the
Bangor q Piscataquis Railroad reached
Milo, about twenty miles away, and the
problem Of transportation became less diff
cult; then fortunate circumstance resulted
in method by which the troublesome sui
phur was conquered, and the iron at once
took high place in the market as material
for the best car wheels; later branch rail-
road was completed from Milo to the Works;
and now, almost under the shadow of the
furnace, is passing a transcontinental line Of
railway that will give quick and cheap access
TO the great western markets. Time and
change have done great things for the indus
try; but pluck and perseverance have done
more. Several times the Works have gone
up In flames, the last time In 1884.
The turning point Of success In the produc-
tion of iron was here in 1879. Previously the
sulphur had given the iron bad reputation.
To get rid of the disturbing element was the
study of Manager o. w. Davis night and
day. On fortunate day he brought TO the
Works a young Swedish chemist, Ernest
Sjostedt, graduate Of the Stockholm school
OF Mines, and above all young man Of sum-
cient constructive genius 20 deal with new
conditions not fully treated Of In the text
books. There Is no ore like this here any
where else in New England; and nowhere
else in the United States IS any such ore
worked. In Austria they are working
similar ore. but the iron they produce Is lar
inferior to the iron made here. Nowhere
else on earth Is such good iron made out on
such poor ore as right here at Katahdin Iron
Works, though this was not the case before
Mr. Davis brought the young Swedish chem
ist. When Mr.. Sjostedt came ne found them
removing the sulphur by burning the ore In
the open air over piles Of wood. Considering
that the iron Is spOngy and brittle II more
than five tenths OF one per cent. OF sulphur
remain, this primitive method must have
been very unsatisfactory. Mr. Sj0stedt at
once set about deyising a roasting kiln. The
result was kiln constructed similar to the
Westman kiln, which Is secured to the use
of the Katahdin Charcoal Iron Company
by the Davis a. Colby patent. II was In 1879
that this irst kiln was constructed. Wood was
used for producing heat. the ore being placed
around a cylinder In which the fire burned.
The kiln was a success; the obnoxious sui
phur was removed and the quality Of Maine
iron almost at once became first class.
Mr.. Sjostedt did not at that time remain,
as he was engaged with the Bethlehem fur
mace in Pennsylvania. But recently after
unpleasant experiences Of the climate Of the
South at the Shelby Furnace of Alabama
and the ChdrOkee Furnace Of Georgia, he
has returned to Maine and become superin-
tendent Of these works. The manufacturer
Of iron, as IL Is now done here under his di-
recti6n is a very interesting process.
The ore is first dug out Of the sides Of the
mountain mot Mount Katahdln, which Is
about forty miles distant); BY digging down
through the surface Of the earth the ore Is
found underlying, of dull red or brown
color and not too hard to be dug with pick.
Mixed with 1t is a nOn-decompOsed sulphlde
of iron, which will in the course Of ages be-
come ore also. The amount Of ore In this
region is not known. as no extensive explo-
rations have ever been made, but for gen.
Grafton or two 1t Is certainly inexhaustible.
The ore is hauled to the works and at once
roasted. There are now two roasting kllns,
the one constructed by Mr.. SJostedt In 1879,
and another, constructed since and fitted for
burning waste gas from the furnace instead
Of wood. These two kilns remove the sui
phur, and also the water, from fifty tons OF
0re each day and night II was late in the
evening when the PRESS representative saw
these furnaces. Through the huge doors,
partly open, leaped flames bright with the
many cOlOrs Of gases that burned within
with great roaring sound, and kiln ten
ders, with long iron pokers, sprang around
the doors like so many demons.
The ore as 1t comes from the roasting kiln
Is peroxide Of iron, similar to red hematite.
AT the furnaces Of Georgia and Alabama
they get their ore in a state nearly as pure as
is Katahdin ore after II has been roasted.
It is evident, therefore, that the manufacture
ers here are under disadvantage In this re-
must be reduced" That Is, the oxygen and
other slight impurities must be taken out,and
to the pure iron, that which In the chemists
laboratory is so soft and bright, must be adj
ded carbon and silicon. This is all done In
one process in the furnace; but first mu SC be
described how the carbon Is obtained.
Around the Iron Works are acres and
acres Of hard wood forest The hard wood
makes the best Of charcoal Sixteen large
kilns. built Of brick, circular In form with
conieal tops, have been built, each capable OF
holding fifty cords of wood. Slow hres, the
smoke from which rising from the sixteen
kilns, may be seen for miles In the country
around, reduce this wood TO charcoal. A
kiln full OF wood yields about twenty-five
hundred bushels Of charcoal; and twelve
hundred cords of wood are used
month in these kilns. In year thirteen or
fourteen thousand cords OF wood are hauled
from the forests around TO feed the constant
slow fires of these klns, and hundreds OF
men and horses are employed to do IL.
The roasted ore and charcoal obtained, the
next step is to use them together In the fur
mace. This furnace, which has been enlarg-
ed and TemOdelled this summer, Is fifty feet
high, and in shape much like big cannon
with its breech resting on the ground and its
muzzle high in the air. At the top, or muzzle
it is five feet in diameter while at the ''bosh'
OF widest part, near the bottom, the diameter
is twelve feet. Lower down, at the hearth,
the diameter Is six feet This Is the furnace,
into which the ore and charcoal are put
when the ore gives off its oxygen and the
impurities and the pure iron takes from the
charcoal its carbon, and from certain other
ingre dients the silicon and other less impOr-
tant elements. In the heat Of the furnace
there must be a re-arranging Of clements
sort of a redistribution OF partners,-so that
when the mass has been melted the pure iron,
with enough carbon, silicon, etc, united TO
itself to form the pig iron OF commerce,
shall remain by itself heavy molten mass
at the bottom OF the furnace, while on "
shall rest another molten mass composer ol
such Of the elments as are not wanted IN the
iron and have not escaped In the form OF gas.
To hiring ahout this Encouragement two con-
ditions are necessary heat and supply OF air
The two are obtained at once by a hot air
blast. Two immense cylinders, each nVe